Chapter 5 (1/2)

“29. In the ocean, the clownfish’s brightly coloured body often causes it to be the target of numerous predators. Although the bright and vivid colours of sea anemone give it a beautiful exterior, its tentacles are highly poisonous. Thus, the rest of the marine animals often stay away from it. However, the mucus coating on the clownfish contains some unique properties that allows it to survive the sea anemone poison and live safely beside the sea anemone. Whenever the clownfish encounters danger, the sea anemone would use its body to s.h.i.+eld the clownfish from its predators. Similarly, the immobile sea anemone would use the clownfish as bait and attract other fishes to its vicinity in order to prey on them. The clownfish would also share its food with the sea anemone.

In the world of nature, such relations.h.i.+ps are known as ( ).”

Chen Nian swiftly wrote the answer “A” on the answer sheet.

It was the second half of the school semester, and the school began to hold mock tests once every month. The students no longer complained and whined like they did in the first half of the semester; those whose results were poor had already given up all hope, whereas those whose results were excellent simply treated these tests as regular checks to verify their understanding of the school material. In addition, these tests also helped them to acc.u.mulate more courage and confidence for the final graduation exam.

Integrated Science was Chen Nian’s best subject. Within an hour, she had alrady completed the final problem in the Physics paper. She flipped to the front of the paper and started checking her answers and shading her answers in the Optical Answer Sheet (OAS). The pencil lead moved swiftly across the OAS. The shaded circles were black and reflected a mild metallic s.h.i.+ne. They reminded her of the eyes of the youth in the dark of the night.

She suddenly recalled the deep kiss he gave her that night.

But within a second, she had already collected her thoughts.

Very soon, students started rising from their seats and submitting their exam scripts, causing a slight stir within the cla.s.sroom. Wei Cai and her group of friends always handed in their script ahead of the deadline, so that they would be able to head out and play. The teacher warned them to keep their volume down so that the other students would not be affected.

Affected? n.o.body would be affected – not a single student seated in the first half of the cla.s.sroom raised his/her to look at Wei Cai, their energies totally focused on solving the questions. Conversely, the students seated in the second half had already been preparing to head out of the cla.s.sroom.

Just as Chen Nian completed the Chemistry paper, Zeng Hao rose from her seat. Although Zeng Hao’s results were extremely good, Chen Nian was still mildly surprised at the unexpected speed at which she solved the questions.

The resultant effect of watching a good student hand up her paper earlier than expexted was vastly different from that of a delinquent student handing up her paper early. The moment Zeng Hao rose from her seat, an invisible pressure settled on the remaining students who were still struggling with the papers, and they casted numerous peeks at her from their desks. There were times when Chen Nian, too, would hand in her paper early and walk towards the podium with an calm and collected expression, casting the invisible pressure on the rest of the students.

You had to be the first in order to exert pressure on the rest; being the second was meaningless.

Zeng Hao raised her head and walked out of the cla.s.sroom calmly. She didn’t stray far from the cla.s.sroom, and simply leaned against the railing, watching the sky.

Chen Nian lowered her head and resumed solving the exam questions. When she completed her Biology paper, she cast a quick glance at her watch. There was 40 minutes left. She took a swift look outside the window. There was n.o.body at the railing. Zeng Hao was gone.

That day, after the incident with the counterfeit money, she told Zeng Hao all that she knew. After she confessed to Zeng Hao, she never contacted Zeng Hao again.

Chen Nian checked through her answers a few more times. Gradually, people began to hand up their exam scripts. Chen Nian didn’t bother rising from her seat, and instead started to practise her writing on the sc.r.a.p paper. Higher marks would be awarded to the composition scripts with nice and neat handwriting.

The bell rang, signalling the conclusion of the exams.

The female toilet was flooded with people. Ah, it was always troublesome for females to head into the toilet, because they always had to queue for a cubicle. Every single female in the toilet was chattering excitedly about the exam questions. Gradually, people grew impatient from the long wait, and started banging on the door of the innermost cubicle.

“Hey, what’s going on? Who’s inside? Why aren’t you coming out? Could you not p.o.o.p since you’re experiencing constipation? There’s so many people waiting outside.”

No response emanated from within.

Chen Nian glanced at the female who had raised her voice – it was a student from another cla.s.s. Although the surrounding female students also chimed in and expressed their dissatisfaction, it was to no avail as they weren’t allowed to pry the door open.

On the way back to the cla.s.sroom, two invigilators walked past her. They were discussing the papers, “Zeng Hao seems to have submitted her paper in a hurry. She failed to notice a glaring error.”

Chen Nian had checked through her paper multiple times. She felt that she would be able to do well in this round of examinations – hopefully, she might even manage to reach 610 marks. Every single time she sat for an exam, she would always have harbour some indistinct hopes that soon, she would be able to finish her exams and leave this place. She would be able to go to some place further and better. She would be able to go to the North.

The students congregated outside the cla.s.sroom, chatting and laughing. Chen Nian returned to her seat and gradually lost herself in her thoughts. In front of her, Hu Xiao Die’s seat will still empty. Once again, the image of Xiao Die’s pale and s.h.i.+vering body flashed across Chen Nian’s mind.

A shadow loomed over her, and Li Xiang suddenly appeared in front of her. He sat himself down on Hu Xiao Die’s seat, and turned to smile at her. His smile was as bright as the afternoon sun, “Chen Nian, how did you find the exam?”

“Normal.”

“Your results have been rather stable for the past few exams, scoring 600 marks would definitely be no problem for you.”

Chen Nian pursed her lips slightly, and managed a faint smile.

Li Xiang looked at her, “Where do you want to continue studying after graduation?”

“Depends on results.”

“Go to Beijing!” Li Xiang’s eyes shone brightly. “It’s right beneath the Emperor’s foot[1]! There’s history, and there’s culture too! Nowadays, people all refer to Beijing as the ‘City of Emperors’ – doesn’t it sound grand and magnificent?”

Chen Nian kept mum.

Xiao Mi pitched in as well, “Li Xiang, aren’t you encouraging people to head to Beijing only because you’ve accepted the offer from Beijing’s university?”

Li Xiang openly admitted his motives, “Of course, I hope that I won’t be alone in the University without a single friend from High School – if that’s the case, I wouldn’t even have a friend to eat out with on weekends. However, to speak the truth, Beijing’s such a great city! Don’t bother staying here, it’s so meaningless.”

Xiao Mi laughed aloud, “Don’t worry. Chen Nian and I both want to go to Beijing. Isn’t that right, Chen Nian?” She gave Chen Nian’s arm a slight push.

Chen Nian calmly replied, “Perhaps…….I can’t……can’t get in…….”

Xiao Mi glared at her, “That’s impossible! Unless you decide to miss the exam!”

Li Xiang: “You’ll definitely be able to get into Beijing! Shall we arrange to meet in Beijing after examinations?”

Chen Nian didn’t respond to his request, and simply gazed out of the window.

“Li Xiang, I heard that your aunt is teaching in the High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University.” Xiao Mi said, “Our small school definitely won’t be able to compare to such a well known High School. Could you please help us to get their test scripts? I think it would be useful for us to practice using their scripts!”

Li Xiang was extremely glad. He could almost visualize his colourful and wonderful University life away from home. “No worries, just count on me.”

Just then, the shrill clang of the bell rang out, signaling the start of cla.s.s. Li Xiang returned to his seat.

As it was cla.s.s time allocated for the students to engage in self-studying, Chen Nian took out last month’s test paper and a.n.a.lyzed the questions which she had answered wrongly. When she raised her head, she realized that Zeng Hao’s seat was still empty. After the conclusion of the monthly exam, teachers are generally busy marking the exam scripts. With no supervision, self-studying had always been undertaken based on the students’ own initiative. Those who didn’t wish to self-study were generally considerate enough not to loiter around the cla.s.srooms, and would head to the field to play. Chen Nian mulled over Zeng Hao’s absence for some time before finally deciding to continue with her own revision.

However, Zeng Hao still failed to appear after a long period of time.

When it was nearing the end of self-study cla.s.s, Chen Nian strolled out of the cla.s.sroom. The corridor was empty, and the entire building was extremely quiet. The only noises came from the faraway field where various students were playing basketball.

The toilet was located at the far end of the corridor. It was so quiet, Chen Nian could hear the water dripping out from the tap, and the splas.h.i.+ng sounds it made as the water droplets fell onto the ceramic floor.

The door of the innermost cubicle remained tightly shut.

Chen Nian stealthily tiptoed over to the innermost cubicle. The occupancy indicator was red. Chen Nian slowly pulled out some tissue and lay it on the floor. Carefully, she knelt down, lowered her body such that her head was nearly plastered onto the ground, and peeked into the cubicle.

She saw two legs, along with some red liquid.

Chen Nian straightened her body gingerly, and disposed of the tissues in the rubbish bin. When she reached the entrance of the toilet, however, she chose not to exit; instead, she chose to turn back into the toilet, and dumped all the rubbish around the entrance of the innermost cubicle.

When she returned to the cla.s.sroom, Xiao Mi asked, “Did you go to the toilet? You should have called me along as well!”

“Nope.” Chen Nian replied slowly. “I couldn’t…….solve a quest……question, went to……consult teacher.”

“Did you manage to find the teacher?”

Chen Nian shook her head.

“Let me take a look at the question.”

Chen Nian pointed to a question offhandedly. Xiao Nian looked at the question for some time before exclaiming, “You can solve it using this method. I’ll teach you!”